Apartment Cleaning Tips: Power Cleaning Your Apartment in 30 Minutes

on February 8, 2017

Hey, we’d all love it if our home could stay clean forever. Imagine coming home to your Seattle Apartment after a long day at work to find that everything was in it’s proper place, and no tidying had to be done. Oh what a wonderful life it’d be! Unfortunately, especially for us apartment dwellers, the truth is that our homes rarely remain a sanctuary. As time passes and the typical stresses of daily life begin to spill over into your home life, you may suddenly find yourself in a cluttered apartment and wonder, “how did I let this happen?”

Well don’t be so hard on yourself, we’ve all been there, and the damage is easily undone. All you’ve got to do is get down to business, get focused, and do some serious cleaning! And there’s no need to stress over that, either! Believe it or not, you can easily clean your entire apartment pretty well in 30 minutes? It’s true and it’s not very hard; all you’ve got to do is plan it out. Here are Eleanor’s best apartment cleanings tips for power cleaning your apartment in 30 minutes.

First Thing’s First – Plan Ahead

Having a strong plan in place for your apartment cleaning regimen is how you’ll save the majority of your cleaning time, and you don’t have to spend a fortune either.

Have Your DIY cleaners on Hand –

Vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice and olive oil, and your favorite essential oil (like lemon or tea-tree) all have natural cleaning properties, and each can be mixed with water to create highly effective cleaning solutions. Here are a few of our favorite DIY cleaners, like:

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

½ cup baking soda

10 drops tea tree oil

¼ cup vinegar

Mix together in the toilet and scrub with your typical toilet brush

Shower/Bathtub cleaner

1 part water

1 part vinegar

1-2 drops of essential oil (optional

Spray bottle

Just spray and wipe away with a soft sponge

Disinfectant

2 Cups water

2 Tablespoons of liquid soap

20-30 drops of teatree oil

All purpose de-gunk-ifier

1 part baking soda

5 parts hot water

Furniture/Wood Polish

1 Part lemon Juice

2 parts olive oil

Now we get to the fun part! We’ve separated out each area of your apartment based on the typical amount of time you should spend there if you’re cleaning briskly.

Begin With the Kitchen (12 minutes)

Here’s an important apartment cleaning tip: if you’re to spend the majority of your time in any area, make sure it’s the kitchen – it definitely gets the dirtiest, with the bathroom coming in at a close second. If you’re a diehard 30 minute power-cleaner, it’s still not out of the ordinary to spend around half of the total time cleaning your apartment in the kitchen. Here’s how to power-clean your kitchen.

Gather the dirty dishes and trash from around your apartment.

Fill the sink with hot water and soap.

If you’ve got a dishwasher, use it. While the sink is filling up, throw anything that doesn’t need a once over in there and set it to run.

Everything not in the dishwasher goes into the sink for a good soak.

Clean out old leftovers and any spoiled food from the fridge and dump it.

Wipe down the countertops, the stove top, the inside and outside of your fridge, and all handles with your all purpose de-gunk-ifier. This portion may require a little elbow grease!

Bag the trash and leftovers and leave it by the door.

Hit The Bedroom (5 minutes)

Another important apartment cleaning tip from Eleanor: Stay focused! We know, 5 minutes might not seem like a lot, but if you’re focused and determined, you can actually get a lot done in 5 minutes, and it’s certainly enough time to clean up your room. It mainly comes down to prioritization. Here’s how to tidy your room in 5 minutes:

Make your bed. Pull up the sheet and blankets and then quickly and gently tug them from the bottom to straighten out any wrinkles. Then, just fluff and toss the pillows to the head of the bed.

Clean clothes go in the closet, and in your drawers. Anything dirty can go into the hamper. If you don’t have a hammer, grab a trash bag from the kitchen and gather your dirty clothes and leave them near the door with the trash.

Bathroom (7 minutes)

We know! As we stated earlier, the bathroom is probably one of the dirtiest spots in your apartment, second only to the kitchen. but trust us, 7 minutes is still plenty of time if you’re prepared and focused.

Drop some of your DIY cleaner, or your store bought cleaner, in the toilet and let it sit.

Spray the shower down with your cleaner spray and quickly scrub it.

Quickly Scrub out the toilet.

Bottles, deodorant, razors, etc. into the medicine cabinet and drawers.

Any other miscellaneous soap, shampoo, etc. can be stored in the shower corners if you don’t have a shelf.

Wipe down the counter with your go-to cleaner, it can be the same as what you wiped out your shower with.

Gather any dirty laundry and toss it into your hamper.

Entryway (3 minutes)

Gather any shoes, coats, or any other clothing. Shoes can be quickly organized in a row along the wall, any coats can go in the closet in your bedroom or on your coat hanger.

Sweep your entryway – unless this is your first time cleaning in a long while , this should only take a moment.

Livingroom (2 minutes)

Here’s an apartment cleaning tip that’s sure to save you some time: don’t worry about the living room so much. A quick once over to tidy it up is all you need. Remember the living room is for living, so no one will fault you if it looks lived in.

Magazines, books, laptop, and all the rest go onto the coffee table into neat piles. If you have one, your books can be organized on your bookshelf.

Backpacks, briefcases, purses and other bags go to the entry way. Coats, clothing, scarves, and other outwear should go to the bedroom closet.

Pillows onto the couches, blankets folded and onto the couches as well.

Take a Minute for Yourself

Here’s an important apartment cleaning tip that is often overlooked. Give yourself a minute for a little self grooming, especially if you just spent 30 minutes power cleaning.

Wash your hands and face and dry yourself off. If you need to, take a second to brush your teeth and throw on a clean set of comfy clothes. Now you’re ready to chill out in your de-cluttered Seattle apartment with peace of mind.

Boom! In 30 minutes, you can have your apartment clean enough to comfortably host guests, or at the very least, take a breath and escape the worries of the day. Of course, you can always delve deeper and spend much more than 30 minutes cleaning, and there are times where you probably should. But, if you’re in a pinch, or you just don’t want to dedicate too much of your schedule cleaning, the list of apartment cleaning tips above will surely help you sufficiently tidy up your Seattle apartment.

Cleaning your apartment is important and shouldn’t be neglected, especially when you love where you live. If you’re currently on the hunt for a Seattle apartment to fall in love with – check out Eleanor Apartments in the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle. Eleanor’s well appointed Seattle apartments are thoughtfully designed to provide residents with an incredibly functional space, which makes cleaning up a total breeze.

With a ton of fantastic amenities and social spaces, along with all sorts of functional floorplans to suit all sorts of uses and layouts, the Seattle apartments at Eleanor are ready and waiting!

To learn more or to schedule a tour of this fantastic Seattle apartment community, please get in touch!

DISCLAIMER: Photography does not depict racial preferences. Model homes and pictures may contain furnishings, amenities and details that may not be present in the homes available for rent. Square footages are approximate. Floor plans may contain minor variations from floor to floor. This property does not accept portable background reports as defined by and pursuant to RCW 59.18

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